Educate Sansar

The word ‘Nepal’ sounds very easy but for understanding it is not that much easy. The five letter word ‘Nepal’ is derived from two different words, i.e. ‘Nepa’ (Newari kingdom) and ‘mi’ (citizen of the kingdom). However, there are many other legends giving explanation about the origin and meaning of the word ‘Nepal’. Geographically, Nepal’s outline is like irregular rectangle from Mechi to Mahakali and is surrounded by two other countries like India in south, east and west and China in north.

As that of other countries, Nepal also has its own history, culture and traditions. And Nepal is doesn’t lag behind in its uniqueness. First of all, I would like to introduce Nepal as the country which has the highest peak of the earth and as the country where Lord Buddha was born. As a Nepali, I think these topics are more than enough to introduce Nepal. In the world, there are 14 peaks which have a height of more than 8000 metres and among them 8 are in my country, Nepal. To introduce my country in front of others I think its enough to say. But while describing more about my country, Nepal, it is the country which has 14 World Heritage Sites and even 10 of them are situated within the area of 20 sq. km. Some of the famous World Heritage Sites of Nepal are Chitwan National Park (famous for the rare one-horned Rhino), different places of Kathmandu Valley that contain more than 5000 temples including monasteries, Lumbini (birth place of the ‘Light of Asia’, Lord Buddha), Sagarmatha, also known as Mount Everest, which is the highest peak of the earth and many more.

And we are not backwards even in the field of our history. Our brave ancestors who shook up the whole world just with the help of their simple-looking but dangerously-working weapon ‘Khukuri’. Nepalese were the ones who had been able to prove themselves as powerful and courageous not only in small wars but also in World War I and World War II. Nepalese Army, also known as Gurkha Army is still recognized as one of the most efficient and heroic armies of the whole world.

Kshitij Raj Lohani

Himal Shrestha

Likewise, we don’t even lack people who have spread Nepal’s name all over the world. Kshitij Raj Lohani, who waved Nepal’s flag above 80,000 ft. from the earth surface and even played the national anthem of Nepal at that height, is the recent name enlisted in the list of people who made Nepal’s name famous. Himal Shrestha, who received gold medal for his expertise in Microsoft Excel 2010 at the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship, is also the one who took Nepal’s name to the nook and corners of the world. They are just the examples, but we have many other people who belong to Nepal and who are working in different fields in important posts all around the world. And we cannot forget the Nepalese who are giving their best in working in the gulf countries and other places, making the image of Nepal as the nation with honest and hardworking citizens.

While talking about the the languages, ethnic groups, costumes and religions found in Nepal, we can say that there is a huge diversity in this field. The common language is Nepali but in fact due to globalization of English language, English is also being widely used. Nevertheless, Nepal has more than 20 other languages differing from races, castes, society, groups etc. In-general there are 4 races, i.e. Brahman, Chettri, Baisya and Sudra, but in between the same races there a lot differences like language, costumes, cuisine and many other unnoticeable stuffs. Fundamentally, Nepal is secular multi-religion country with 80% of Hindu population and 10% of Buddhist population. The remaining population follow other religions like Christianity, Islam etc. Also, in Nepal there are many people following two religions, i.e. Buddhism and Hinduism at a time. This is called ‘Buddhinduism’. Nepal has great specialities in the field of biodiversity and the geographical conditions as well since many rare flora and fauna are found here. Likewise, the Himalayan, Hilly and Terai regions have their own geographical and climatic characteristics which make Nepal an attractive place for living and enjoying. Moving on to the field of education, literacy rate has been rapidly increased in the last 30 years. We know, we were ruled by Prime Ministers like Jung Bahadur Rana, who thought that giving education to the citizens is indirectly killing ownself or kicking away the post of Prime Minister ownself by making people aware that their rule was totally autocratic. In mean time, the literacy rate of Nepal was approximately 5% of the whole population but after around 50 years it has surged up to 68%. And who did this magic? It’s us, the Nepalese who rose up their literacy rate from 5% to 68% within such a short time period.

Hence, I am proud to be a Nepali. And I’m sure that we’ve got many more stuffs than Mount Everest and Gautam Buddha which can help us to introduce Nepal all over the world, without any type of hesitation or difficulty.

Jay Nepal!